Collaboration Results in Overwhelming Success for Disability Program

If you're looking to implement or tweak your return-to-work program, a California-based system may offer some valuable strategies. The head of the program says strong lines of communication, buy-in from supervisors and employees, and executive-level support are critical.

With more than 4,000 employees, the County of Santa Barbara's workforce presents a multitude of challenges for disability manager Deborah Wells. Yet, from September 2009 through August 2010 the county returned to work more than 90 percent of employees who had temporary and/or permanent work restrictions. All required accommodations.

"Ultimately, it makes good fiscal sense," Wells said. "The employer doesn't have to train someone new. . . . Other employees see that the employer cares about their employees, so there's improved morale."

Santa Barbara's Disability Management/Back to Work program is a seven-step process. It's dependent on the cooperation of the supervisor and employee, as well as the program coordinator.

"As part of the interactive process, I meet with the employee and supervisor and have them sign an agreement that the work is not to exceed medical restrictions," Wells said. "They will bring their medical restrictions in to the supervisor; the supervisor agrees not to ask them to perform any work that exceeds their restrictions."

The program also stresses assisting employees with non-industrial work restrictions. That requires a willingness by the employee to provide updated medical documentation and work restrictions to the program coordinator and supervisor.

"Your supervisor needs to manage the workload and has to make the adjustments to the workload depending on the employee's restrictions," Wells said. "The supervisor needs to know immediately."

Reporting system. Addressing the needs of workers with permanent restrictions is even more complex. Wells developed a reporting system to ensure these workers are not put in a position where they could reinjure themselves or sustain new injuries.

"The supervisor may have changed; people are looking at new assignments," she said. "You can't really depend on your employees to remember their restrictions even if I've had them sign off on their agreements. It's shocking."

The county now documents all employees with permanent work restrictions, including the supervisor's and doctor's names and the date of injury. As the program coordinator, Wells is consulted before any employee with restrictions is assigned to a new position.

In addition, Santa Barbara County has a system to target employees who have been out of work for a period of time. "A leave of absence list comes out every two weeks with the name of the individual and reason for absence," Wells said. "When someone's been on that list for a period of time, we'll work with the department to clarify what we need to do to bring the individual back."

One of the final steps in the program is a customer survey sent to injured workers. "I use it for feedback to improve the program," Wells said.

Read more at the WorkersComp Forum homepage.

View the original article here

Project Action: Snap-on's Safety Success

Project Action, an integrating safety and prevention program, has helped Snap-on refocus its comp and disability program--and earn Certificate of Merit for the Theodore Roosevelt Workers? Compensation and Disability Management Award in the for-profit sector in 2010.

The 29 elements of Snap-on's Project Action include:

Item 1: Adopt the Snap-on Incorporated Safety Philosophy.

Item 2: Establish selection and hiring practices that emphasize safety and identify the physical demands of the job (applicable also to promotions and transfers.).

Item 3: As a condition of employment and continued employment, each associate will complete the Certified Safe Associate (CSA) program.

Item 4: A Job Safety Analysis (JSA) is required on all job functions to identify the sequence of steps, potential hazards and the controls necessary to mitigate the hazard.

Item 5: Utilizing a Safe Workplace Design Review Team organization/approach, initiate and maintain safe workplace design concepts at all workstations to eliminate or safeguard any unsafe conditions.

Item 6: As a condition of employment and continued employment, each associate will complete the Job Specific Safety Certification.

Item 7: Develop and implement a plan to maintain equipment and operating standards.

Item 8: Institute and maintain the Snap-on Incorporated Safety Appeal Process for an associate to use when he/she feels that a specific job is unsafe.

Item 9: Improve Injured Employee Relations by emphasizing a nonadversarial approach to workers' compensation.

Item 10: Adopt an incident investigation approach that identifies the root cause of an accident or near miss, and assigns responsibility for corrective action.

Item 11: Develop and maintain claims management best practices that will enable Snap-On to monitor claims file activity and effectively play a team role with the claims administrator.

Item 12: Improve the medical management of an injured associate.

Item 13: Adopt a philosophy and maintain a program that encourages and supports

Temporary Alternate Duty (TAD) work.

Item 14: Establish and maintain a Safety Teams Organization that includes a Safety Review Board at each location, chaired by the senior executive at the location, and chaired by the president and CEO of Snap-on.

Item 15: Staff a Safety Management Organization that includes a safety manager at each location.

Item 16: Include objectives and action plans regarding safety in all strategic plans.

Item 17: Promote an awareness of general health issues that encourage a lifestyle committed to improving physical and mental health and quality of life.

Item 18: Ensure that safety-related incentive programs are based upon positive safety initiatives as well as on results.

Item 19: Maintain an understanding and comply with all health and safety regulations, including any labor law considerations, to ensure that our Associate Safety Program practices are compatible with all regulations.

Item 20: Make safety a permanent agenda item at all meetings where operational performance is discussed. It is strongly recommended that safety be the first item on any agenda.

Item 21: Include safety performance on all performance appraisals.

Item 22: Maintain and increase safety awareness and visibility by setting goals, maintaining safety bulletin boards and communicating through other media.

Item 23: Utilize the Snap-On 6S process to ensure safety is incorporated in all Rapid Continuous Improvement (RCI) activities.

Item 24: Periodically issue a corporate newsletter or other reports that communicate program focus, activity and results.

Item 25: Maintain safety-training aids for use throughout the company.

Item 26: Complete and distribute monthly (as required) the Snap-On Incorporated Safety

Improvement Report at each location.

Item 27: Establish the Snap-On Incorporated Safety Review as a framework for the self-evaluation of compliance and safety programs.

Item 28: Provide safety performance-related reports for use as a management tool throughout the company.

Item 29: Expedite safety improvement reviews and approvals.

View the original article here